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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, May 10, 2011 INCIDENTS Grand Canyon NP Body Of Young Man Found 700 Feet Below Rim Rangers retrieved the body of a young man from below the South Rim last Friday morning. The body was found about 700 feet below the rim near park headquarters in an extremely steep and narrow drainage. Due to the inaccessible nature of the location, rangers involved in the recovery had to work in stages. The body was flown to the rim, where it was turned over to the county medical examiner. The recovery operation took almost five hours and involved 25 people. The identity of the young man is not known at this time. An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the NPS with the assistance of the medical examiner's office. [Shannan Marcak, Public Affairs Officer] Gila Cliff Dwellings NM Park Closes Temporarily Due To Wildfire The supervisor for the Gila National Forest asked the state to close New Mexico Highway 15 miles south of the park this past weekend due to the proximity of the week-old Miller Fire, which was approaching the small town of Gila Hotsprings. This action effectively closed the monument to visitors. It was estimated at the time that the road would have to remain closed for four to five days until the fire reached control lines and died down. USFS and NPS staff implemented previously developed contingency measures to protect the cliff dwellings and other sites within the park, including additional fuel reductions and protective measures to prevent damage to the 700-year-old wood features in the cliff dwellings. With temperatures climbing back into the 80's by the beginning of the week and winds expected to gust to 40 mph, the extremely rugged terrain in which the human-caused fire is burning is making direct control very dangerous and ineffective. The Gila National Forest will go to Stage II fire restrictions today and trails south and west of the monument will be closed when the highway reopens. Due to the nearly complete lack of moisture during the winter and spring, the extremely dry conditions are expected to permit the fire to burn until mid-summer rains arrive, typically in early July. [Steve Riley, Superintendent] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/): Civil War Sesquicentennial - The Civil War Trust and the Virginia Department of Transportation have launched the second of their “Battle App” offerings for the iPhone and iPod Touch - this one for Fredericksburg Battlefield. Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings and the status of legislation pertinent to the NPS. A hearing was held last week on a half dozen NPS-related bills, and two upcoming hearings will be held on another score or so. US Park Police - On April 14th, Explorer Captain Kelsey Taylor, Post 521, Bakersfield Police Department, visited Park Police Explorer Post 1791 and spoke to them about her law enforcement exploring career and future aspirations. Photo. * * * * Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). --- ### --- |